Chapter 158: The Undiscovered Land

Chapter 158: The Undiscovered Land

When she traveled downstream for the last time, it was a languid affair, but Oroza no longer had the strength to swim. At this point, she barely had the strength to hold herself together as the emaciated shell of the river dragon she was. Even time spent among the ice at the peak of the mountains was enough to rejuvenate her; she did not truly understand why.

Was it not as clear as it had always been? Were the heights not untouched and perfect in that timeless way that she’d always been until so recently?

She didn’t know, but then, she didn’t know that it mattered, either. She had lived a long enough life that it was measured in centuries, and for most of that time she had been content to drift along as if it would never end. Now all that mattered now was that the Lich did not get its hands on her soul and continue her torment in perpetuity.

It would be bad enough that it would shape and eventually seize whatever sprang up from the polluted banks of the Oroza next, but she could do nothing about that now. She’d already fought too long and too hard and lost everything in the process.

While she drifted through the southern reaches of her realm toward the silty delta, she bitterly reflected on how little her efforts had accomplished. She had prevented the darkness from marching east immediately, but that had only given those people a two-year reprieve. Beyond that, what had she done? Saved some children? Torn apart as many of the Lich’s constructs as she could?

Oroza smiled at that as she glided along. It wasn’t much, but it would have to be enough. Before that, she’d granted the wishes of countless mothers for healthy babies and even more farmers for bountiful yields, but somehow, all those minor miracles paled in comparison to the dark years that had done such damage to her.

All she could hope for was that in time, after the Gods finally stood together and defeated this enemy, or the darkness had consumed all the life in the area and burned itself out, that nature would finally begin to heal. One day there would be an Oroza again. She believed that. She just knew that it wouldn’t be her.

The behavior of the other Gods was the point that galled her the most. Their domains were so disparate, and their concerns were so focused that it was hard to get them to work together on anything, especially since the nature goddesses and the children of the forest had begun to vanish.

It was the nature of man to be selfish, but the Gods were supposed to rise above such petty challenges and work together to defeat their enemies. Sadly, they could not even accomplish that much.

The All-Father was almost finished building a new chariot, but Lunaris would not loan him any of her stars to wrangle the horses for it. She said the firmament was too weak to support any more losses.

Even if she had, though, who would they get to drive such a thing? For a time, she had hoped that the Templar with the glowing eyes might be the one to do so, but according to what she’d heard, he was dead, and the place where she’d left those light-eyed children so long ago was gone too. had once been a man, it was said, before he was invested with the light. Perhaps another like that would be born somewhere across the seas.

None of that mattered to her any longer as she traveled out to sea herself. She used to hate the itch of the saltwater in the Relict Sea, but compared to her own waters now, they felt clean and pure, and she quick sank beneath the waves, letting the currents take her ever deeper. That was all she wanted, to find a place somewhere where her tormentor could never find her, and there was no place vaster than the ocean depths.

That was why she was surprised when Istinis found her there, curled up beneath a rock in thousands of feet of water, a hundred miles from anywhere in a plain of endless mud and stone. Her pale aqua skin and the flickering lightning in her eyes made a mistaken identity impossible. She was Istiniss.

Normally, such an unexpected visit might have frightened Oroza. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that the Lich compelled her to invade the more powerful Goddess’s domain and ravage her behemoths with the Lich’s crazed sea dragon. Now, death would be a blessing, and if the Ocean Goddess wanted to strike her down, well, so much the better.

Instead, the two of them regarded each other for a long time before Istiniss finally spoke. “I would make you one of my own if I could,” the Goddess said at last. “I would give your domain of the east wind and let you pour out your poison on the creature that did this to you, but that is beyond me.”

“I appreciate that,” Oroza said, too tired to offer up any proper formality.

“I would if I could,” the Goddess of Sea and Storms nodded. “I would empty every thunderhead in the world on that evil patch of land if I thought that it could cleanse its taint, but that would only poison the sea faster.”

“Then all you can do is put me out of my misery,” Oroza smiled sadly, certain that a blast of lightning would be enough to stop the slow wheezing in her chest each time she breathed in and out through her gills.

“Sorry,” Istiniss said. “I already told you you aren’t dying in my ocean. Lunaris is already cross enough with me. I’m going to help you get somewhere where you can recover your strength, at least for a while. It's very far away, but once that’s done, well, as long as you fulfill your destiny, I suppose you can do whatever you want.”

Oroza opened her large mouth to speak. She was going to explain that she lacked the strength to swim for another mile, let alone leagues and leagues, but the words were lost in the sudden surge of currents that surrounded her. They pulled her out of her own grave and flung her off at great speed through the darkness to someplace only Istiniss knew.

There was a time when Oroza would have fought her way free on principle. She lacked the strength to do that now, though. Instead, she was dragged through the depths back toward the surface. That was not her destination, though. Instead, she was propelled for a night and a day like that toward warmer waters and sunnier climes.

Three times, she saw an island speeding toward her from the horizon, and each time, she thought that was her destination. She passed all of them by, though.

Oroza glided across the water until she no longer recognized the color of the water or the sky. Even her cleanest mountain lakes were not so teal, and the strange pink rocks she glimpsed beneath her were contrasted by brightly colored fish that were every color of the rainbow. She would have thought for certain that she’d left the world entirely for some new place were it not for the constellations in the sky.

Then, the next morning, shortly after sunrise she spied a fourth island, and the currents carried her all the way to the breakwaters of it before they finally released her. It was a strange place, with oddly shaped trees that had broad leaves only at the very top of tall crooked trunks.

All of that was beautiful, but as she got close to the shore and let her dragon form fade away to reveal only an old woman in a silver dress, it was the man standing on shore that caught her attention. He was alone there, in ankle-deep water, wearing fine black clothing that did not fit at all with everything else. She had no idea what to make of that, but she didn’t feel at all threatened by the dark-skinned woman as she slowly waded ashore.

“I was sent here,” Oroza said, rising from the surf and walking toward the shore on shaky legs.

“You were,” she agreed, “but you don’t have to come here. Not if you don’t want to.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to?” Oroza asked, suddenly unsure.

“Where you stand now, you have the traces of not just life and death, but undeath upon you as well.” The dark woman said. “If you leave the surf and come fully onto the shore, you will leave behind two of those worlds forever.”

Oroza paused. Trying to decipher the cryptic words as she stood there, struggling against the tide as it lapped against the shore. She was exhausted, and truly, there was nowhere else for her to go. Still, she asked the obvious question, “Who are you?”

The dark woman smiled with frighteningly white teeth and said a word. It might have been a name, even, but it was lost in the crashing of the tide that churned around them.

“That won’t mean too much to you, though,” she continued, extending his hand, “Not until you make your decision.”

Oroza only had to think for a moment. Then, with determination, she gripped the stranger’s hand and strode ashore.